Nothing too obscure here, if you know more actors than I do. I’m not convinced I’ve completely got the bottom of 13d or 6d but I’ve done what I could. 23 minutes before writing up the blog.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, DD = double definition, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | No saint, unscrupulous individual is filled with constant agitation (9) |
| HYSTERICS – [S]HYSTER, IS with C inserted. Agitation seems a little of an understatement for hysterics, but there you are. | |
| 6 | Volume dial adjusted for sound (5) |
| VALID – V for volume, (DIAL)*. Sound as in “a sound reason why…” | |
| 9 | One handy face card turning up in every deal? (4-2-3-6) |
| JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES -a cryptic definition, of a sort. | |
| 10 | Dull university medic on Scots peak (6) |
| BENUMB – BEN (as in Ben Nevis), U [niversity], MB = medic. Dull as a verb, “dull the senses”. | |
| 11 | In some way wonder about retaining seat (2,2,4) |
| AS IT WERE – AWE (wonder) RE (about) with SIT inserted. | |
| 13 | Shrub put in particular island area (10) |
| POINSETTIA – POINT, I, A, with SET = put inserted. Particular can be a noun meaning a point, e.g. a detail on a form. An example of this (originally Mexican) plant appears every Christmas in our house, the red and green one, but I’d have spelt it wrongly if you asked me before this clue; it’s not pointsettia, it’s apparently named after an American chap called Joel Robert Poinsett, who was US Minister to Mexico in the 1820s. | |
| 14 | Ascend, lopping first branch (4) |
| LIMB – [C]LIMB. | |
| 16 | Amorously kiss head-turner? (4) |
| NECK -DD. | |
| 17 | Barbican church away from East in flood (10) |
| WATCHTOWER – CH[urch] TO W (away from east) all inside WATER = flood. | |
| 19 | Actor, male, scarcely dropping line (3,5) |
| TOM HARDY – I’d never heard of this chap, and pencilled in TOM HANKS at first, until the checkers from 12d forced a rethink and a guess. A TOM is a male cat, and HARDLY loses its L. | |
| 20 | Cold hearts in MI6: boss there in breach (6) |
| SCHISM – SIS (acronym for Secret Intelligence Service i.e. MI6) has C H (cold, hearts) inserted then M added, she / he being the “boss” of MI6 in Bond movies. | |
| 23 | Eurocrat excited with a daring defensive strategy (9,6) |
| REARGUARD ACTION – (EUROCRAT A DARING)*. | |
| 24 | Small border plant in wet ground (5) |
| SEDGE – S[mall], EDGE = border. | |
| 25 | Private investigator smart or simple (9) |
| EYEBRIGHT – well, a private investigator is a (private) eye, and BRIGHT means smart. Eyebright is a common plant used in herbal medicine; such were referred to in Medieval times as “simples”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Veil what KLM’s after with BA on the rise? (5) |
| HIJAB -H I J come before K L M in the alphabet; BA reversed. | |
| 2 | Deputy with very brief experience at the higher level? (6-2-7) |
| SECOND-IN-COMMAND – slightly cryptic DD, the second D where second = very brief time. | |
| 3 | Finally lose weight — room for eating dessert? (4,4) |
| ETON MESS – [los]E, TON (weight), MESS where the military can eat. I don’t know if this is a thing apart from in the UK, but my golf club’s chef does a delicious version. | |
| 4 | Religious figure present in anima mundi (4) |
| IMAM – hidden word. | |
| 5 | Talk of flogging tar after beer stashed in ship (5,5) |
| SALES PITCH – ALE in side SS. (steam ship), PITCH = tar. | |
| 6 | Truth the ne plus ultra really involves (6) |
| VERITY -‘ne plus ultra’ is Latin for ‘nothing more beyond’ and comes to mean ‘nothing better’, so I guess, here, it’s ‘the best thing’ or ‘IT’. Insert IT into VERY = really. Unless you have a better idea. | |
| 7 | Palace women win — good Italian side thrashed (6-2-7) |
| LADIES-IN-WAITING – (WIN G ITALIAN SIDE)*. | |
| 8 | Person belonging to underworld apparently cut to pieces (9) |
| DISMEMBER – a DIS MEMBER could be a person belonging to DIS or the underworld. | |
| 12 | Dish Keats cooked — one eaten by Hamlet? (5,5) |
| STEAK DIANE – (KEATS)*, DANE with I inserted; Hamlet was a Dane. | |
| 13 | Such breaches as occasion escape from Tyre? (9) |
| PUNCTURES – I think this is a play on words with Tyre in Lebanon and a tyre on a car (which in USA would be tire and so not work). I thought it might be a reference to some Shakespearean, classical or Biblical quote, but haven’t yet found one. | |
| 15 | Frame and beds sent north in strengthened vehicle (5,3) |
| STOCK CAR – COTS reversed, RACK reversed. | |
| 18 | Flock on water doubly good in force 8 (6) |
| GAGGLE – GALE insert GG. | |
| 21 | Crew set about hauling in new painter (5) |
| MANET – TEAM reversed with M inserted. | |
| 22 | Woodcutter’s commercials on radio (4) |
| ADZE – sounds like “ads”. | |
TOM HARDY – I still regret the demise of the Times tradition of avoiding living people as solutions. Irrational, I know, but it was quirky and sometimes a way of learning of someone’s death. I love the story of the old regime slipping up with GISCARD D’ESTAING when he was still alive at 94.
Very quick for me as totally on the wavelength with this one – nothing holding me up for long. OK, I failed to parse bith HYSTERICS and VERITY, but with the crossers they couldn’t have been anything else. Nice to see Tom Hardy acknowledged – one forgets just how many great roles he’s had over the years, and was good to be reminded in the comments.
14:38.
COD: HIJAB